


blooming

by baekkieony



Series: Different Directions Of Love [6]
Category: Winner (Band)
Genre: Death, Depression, Depressive, Flowers, I Don't Even Know, M/M, Not, Not Beta Read, Petals, Roses, Sorry Not Sorry, Starving, Time - Freeform, Weird, a surprise, ana - Freeform, but i loved it as a child(even if it scared me lol), bye, cute btw, lol i think nobody knows this show, momo und die grauen männer references, sad end, timekeepers, what tf do i tag, wtf what did i write
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-30
Updated: 2017-06-30
Packaged: 2018-11-21 13:07:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11358138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baekkieony/pseuds/baekkieony
Summary: taehyun's petals are falling while jinwoo's flower never dies. taehyun lives from day to day, but jinwoo is stuck in the hours





	blooming

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lowkeyamen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lowkeyamen/gifts).



> sorry for dedicating it to you again, lowkeyamen :D. i'm just so impressed by your writing and i'm so happy that you noticed me senpai *-*. feel free to yell at me. and no, i dunno what i wrote here, it's just weird but i dunno depressive and cute at the same time. this is not beta read (as always). btw i loved momo as a child(it was also a tv show)

_Poor little flower_

_Standing alone on her own grave_

_Petals waving in the wind_

_Poor little flower_

_Slowly drying out_

 

Jinwoo fumbled with the key in his pocket; fingers trembling, frozen from the icy wind and shaky from all the alcohol flowing through his veins. He had barely reached the knob on his front door, after he had decided that it was too late and he was too drunk to wake Taehyun up.

He quietly crept his way into his apartment, barefoot on the cold ground. He was like a shadow, invisible in the darkness of the night; only the moon spending some light. Jinwoo stopped at one of the windows in the kitchen, fascinated by the moon and all the stars; a glass with water in his hands.

Jinwoo loved the night. He was the type to be awake at night and asleep when the first rays of sun were visible. Jinwoo loved the night, because he could be invisible. One with the darkness.

Jinwoo felt how a familiar pain in his belly crept up and a loud groan coming out of his stomach followed. His tummy felt like he had to throw up and his throat burned like he drank bleach instead of water.

Then everything went quiet again, but Jinwoo's heart was racing like after a three miles run. Another petal in Taehyun's stomach just had fallen and it seemed like Jinwoo didn't know how much were still there.

Jinwoo decided to go to bed. The glass water on the counter had been long forgotten.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jinwoo woke up to the sound of his radio standing next to him, music playing loudly. The other side of the bed was empty, sheets still smelling after Taehyung. He must have left only an hour ago, a note that he could come late back next to Jinwoo. Jinwoo heard his stomach groan; he was literally starving. It was way too early for him, but also his own mistake if he felt the urge to go to a club on a wednesday.

When he went to the kitchen the glass water wasn't on the counter anymore

Jinwoo couldn't bring himself to drink more than two coffees and he didn't even considered eating. He had given up the fight against the demon in his head telling him how fat he was. He only obeyed; he didn't had the strength to fight against the number of his weight rushing down.

Eating only made his stomach ache a little more in pain than it did anyway. And as long as Taehyun didn't decide to commit suicide, Jinwoo would live endlessly. Taehyun would surely die a natural way, since Jinwoo was the problematic one in their relationship. Taehyun didn't even know about the petals and the rotting stalk.

A robot brought him the actual newspaper and Jinwoo grabbed it boringly. He causally opened the first page, basically checking the date. 6 _._ _30_ _.2_ _417_ _. Good._ Everything was still the same.

“Sir, you need to hurry up, or you'll be late at work”, his robot reminded him of the time and Jinwoo sighed before closing the newspaper and heading to his room to get himself dressed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jinwoo followed the trail of people streaming into his workplace, being one with the crowd. His desk was only one from thousand and he sighed again when he saw the amount of undid paperwork on his desk. _So many dead flowers, so many explanations to do_. He really hated his job, but he got paid to well to search for another place of work and he won't find one anyway.

After he had called most of the families from his list, he decided that it would be the best if he made a break and get himself some water. When he went back to his desk his work partner Seunghoon sat on his desk, waiting for him with a coffee in his hands.

“I see that you're still not finished with your work”, Jinwoo rolled his eyes. “I've got better things to do, okay?”, his reply was harsh and Seunghoon flinched under his voice, before his eyes filled with pity. “You haven't told him yet?”, Jinwoo shook his head.

“I'm not allowed to jugde you, but you'll have to tell him sooner or later”, Seunghoon gave him a serious look before standing up and going back to his own desk, leaving Jinwoo alone with all the dead flowers and dead people.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Taehyun, just listen, okay?”, Jinwoo had called Taehyun immediately after coming back from work. “You need to come home, please”, Taehyun's response was a short okay and it only took a few minutes until Taehyun went trough the front door of their shared apartment.

He barely had his coat off and his shoes laces untied when Jinwoo practically climbed on his back. Taehyun laughed softly, before turning around and pressing a chaste kiss onto Jinwoo's pinkish lips. Jinwoo practically melted in Taehyun's arms.

“What do you wanted to talk about?”, Taehyun's voice was warm and welcoming and Jinwoo didn't want to tell him about everything. About the petals and the flowers.

“It's better if you sit down”, Jinwoo dragged him to their shared kitchen and roughly shoved Taehyun on a chair, before getting one for himself. Jinwoo tried to avoid Taehyun's piercing gaze, but failed completely. Jinwoo sighed. It was just more harder to begin when Taehyun gave him this look.

“Okay, how should I start? Y-you know about my work, don't you?”, Jinwoo nervously fumbled with his fingers. “Yes, you work as an engineer, right?”, Taehyun sounded clueless.

“Well, that was a lie. I never worked as an engineer and I also never studied. I-have you ever heard about the people called 'the men in the grey suits'?”, Taehyun's eyes widen in surprise.

“I thought they were only a novel. Someone's weird fantasy. Nobody has ever seen them”, Jinwoo frowned, kinda expecting this answer. Everybody talked about the man in the grey suits.

“They're real. A-and I'm one of them. And you know what stories are told about us, even if i can tell you that they're not true. But we're not the best people to spend your time with either”, Taehyun looked completely stunned and confused; Jinwoo literally could see the question mark above his head.

“But instead of collecting souls – or whatever you got told – we do something else. W-we're something like timekeepers. Every person on this earth has a flower inside his or her chest. You'll never notice this flower until you die and the most people never get to know this secret. And every flower has petals and you live as long as your flower still has petals. When all petals are fallen you're gonna die”, Jinwoo swallowed. This was harder than he had expected.

“And this is the point where the timekeepers get necessary. Some people who know about their flowers try to change the amount of petals or steal petals from other people to make sure that they'll live longer. And we make sure that this won't happen. Everybody has a specified amount of petals and it's not naturally to change it. But we're also the people who take care of the dead bodies and everything. So you could say that we're the time police”, Jinwoo looked away from his fingers, gaze finally fixing Taehyun, who was completely stunned.

“T-that makes sense. But why do you tell me all these things?”, this was the question Jinwoo was so scared of.  
  
“Well, there's a special thing about the timekeepers. We're the only ones living forever, but there are some... _borders._ When timekeepers decide to be attached to someone, when they bound with a person who isn't one of the timekeepers, they're bounded to the flower in the person's chest. They only won't die as long as the person dies in a natural way and they feel the pain when one of the petals from their flower falls”, Jinwoo didn't sounded confident even to himself.

“That means that I can't kill myself without killing you and that you'll feel pain everytime one of my petals fall? I don't get where the problem is”, Taehyung sounded so realistic, so harsh.

“The problem is that we'll live forever. While everybody we loved is dying around as, we're still be alive. And killing myself is impossible for me, I could only die if you would kill yourself. While everybody is getting older and lives from day to day we're stuck in our never ending hours”.

“Then you're surely not twenty-five, hm”, even if Taehyun's voice was mockingly, there was a sound of bitterness. “Add two hundred in front of twenty-five and my age would fit. But that's not the point at the moment. Taehyun, you lost many petals in the last time, too many that it still would be considered as _normal_. A-and I could look up how many petals are left, if you want that. Maybe I could find a way to give you more”, Jinwoo begged more than he offered.

Jinwoo had the luck that he never met someone like Taehyun before, he never had to feel the experience of losing someone before, he never had to watch someone loved dying while you're still alive. He had luck, but Taehyun was a change in his fate he never wanted.

Taehyun looked like he really thought about the offer, really considered the idea. But then he stood up, placing his chair at the table and walked to Jinwoo.

“T-that's a really good-hearted offer, but I refuse it with a big thank you. Like you said, if my petals are on set on this limited amount I shouldn't change them. A rose is born to flower and grow, but also to rot and die. You shouldn't change nature's way with stealing someone's else petals – and I know that this would be my only chance. Maybe if there's a natural way to change the amount, but not with doing something illegal”, he gave Jinwoo a peek on the forehead and then on the lips, before heading to the door. Jinwoo sat still on his chair, frozen in time.

Then he found his voice back, hoarse from the sourness in his throat. “Wait! Where're you going?”.

“You gave me a lot to deal with. Give me some time. It'll be late, don't wait for me!”.

Jinwoo saw Taehyun grabbing his jacket and then the door went shut behind him only seconds later.

Jinwoo starred at the door a little bit longer, before he buried his face in his knees and decided that it would be okay to cry.

 

_Poor little flower_

_Petals slowly falling down_

_And remember little flower_

_You always know_

_After the sun comes the shower_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jinwoo woke up to the sound of his radio standing next to him, music playing loudly. He turned around to snuggle in Taehyun's chest again, but there was only an empty side. Jinwoo could feel a sheet of paper under his extended arm and he lazily opened his eyes to read it. **“I'm at work. See you in the evening, Hyung!”** , Jinwoo sighed and cuddled back in the warm blankets. The sheets still smelled like Taehyun.

The most things in Jinwoo's surroundings smelled like Taehyun the last time. The coffee smelled like Taehyun, the bread smelled like Taehyun, even the shampoo in the shower smelled like Taehyun. Jinwoo loved his scent – he could sniff it literally 24 hours.

Jinwoo's stomach groaned; like it did every morning. Taehyun had forced him to eat something the last days, but Jinwoo secretly had thrown everything up after eating it. Starving was the last thing he had control over and no matter how skinny he got, he won't die anyway. The most people would consider it as playing with fate, but Jinwoo thought that it was more playing his cards.

The first week after Jinwoo (finally) had the balls to explain Taehyun everything was hard for the both of them. Taehyun was barely at home and Jinwoo had too many work to do. But they spoke it out, like they always did.

Taehyun had settled with the fact that he was _maybe_ dying soon, but he stopped caring. After Taehyun's begs Jinwoo didn't look Taehyun's remaining petals up. Taehyun didn't want to know when he had to say goodbye.

When Jinwoo came back this evening, he had a big smile on his face. “Taehyun! Taehyun, you won't believe me! They told – at my workplace – that there's now a natural medicine to change the amount of your petals. It's a prototype, but you could try it if you want”, Taehyun's eyes lit up in excitement. Jinwoo went to the kitchen, seeing that his glass with water he had forgotten on the counter the night before wasn't there anymore.

“Really? You're not kidding?”, Taehyun had followed him and looked stunned and Jinwoo only shook his head before Taehyun fell in his arms and they hugged each other closely in their kitchen, tears in their eyes.

 

_Poor little flower_

_Ain't so poor anymore_

_Because through all the rain_

_Shines a new horizon_

_And hope is starting to raise_

_As a small light on the end of the world_

_Happy little flower_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Okay, Nam-ssi, here's your medicine. Be careful, you're not going to get anything in good three months”, Taehyun didn't even really listen to the man giving him his medicine, he was more focused on his daydreams about all the things he was now able do with Jinwoo.

“But remember, this is only a prototype. There's no guarantee that it'll work. So don't expect a perfect ending”, Taehyun's sparkle in his eyes was lost after this words had snapped him back into reality. _There's no guarantee that this will work._ And all the hope they had worked so hard for was now so small again.

 

_Happy little flower_

_Your fate's still not clear_

_You thought you'd be happy now_

_You happy little flower_

_But the poorness isn't gone_

_And it could grab the happy little flower_

_In every second_

_And drag the happy little flower_

_Back in the darkness_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jinwoo and Taehyun lied on the couch, lazily watching a film together. Everything was pretty normal, since one month was everything pretty normal. Jinwoo's stomach stopped hurting. Taehyun's petals stopped falling. This is how it should be.

But suddenly, completely out of sudden, Jinwoo felt the familiar soreness in his throat. Like he drank bleach instead of water.

 

_Oh happy little flower_

_Your star had been the brightest_

_And all of your happy little petals_

_Flowered in endless beauty_

_Like your era never ends_

_But the happy little flower_

_Raised with the sun_

_And did the happy little flower_

_Thought about the fact_

_That every day has it's end_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jinwoo woke up to the sound of his radio standing next to him, music playing loudly. He turned around to snuggle in Taehyun's chest, but the other side of the bed was empty. He grabbed the sheets to sniff them, but the sheets didn't smell like Taehyun anymore. Jinwoo sighed and decided to only drink a coffee before going to work. He won't consider eating anyway.

When Jinwoo finally came back from work, completely exhausted, he only kicked his shoes in one corner and threw his coat in the same dark corner.

“Taehyun? I'm home!”, Jinwoo yelled through the dark apartment, heading to the kitchen. It came no response.

The glass water he had forgotten on the counter last night was still there.

 

_Poor little flower_

_Why did you try to run_

_We caught you anyway_

_Oh poor little flower_

_You're not supposed to have a happy end_

_Poor little flower_

_Tried to reach happiness_

_But the poor little flower_

_Was captured in her own cage_

_And when the wind outside stopped blowing for a second_

_The poor little flower tried to flee_

_But the poor little flower_

_Had not paid attention_

_That the wind would catch all of her petals_

_When he started blowing again_

**Author's Note:**

> even this was weird shit and i'm bad at writing poems(if this could even be considered as a poem lol :D) i think this is my best os so far. I just finished my last exam today (my english oral exam(went pretty well(nobody wants to know, jule)))and now I'm done with all my exams for the rest of the school year(that means until september, when my new year starts(i'm in grade eleven wtf)). hope y'all enjoyed reading and a nice weekend! leave kudos etc. :3 (btw, thanks for all support under my shitty stories). annyeong.
> 
> bittersweetyugyeom
> 
> [30.6.17]


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